Beccles 12 Sudbury 24

Last week, coach Graham Richards warned that Beccles may be a potential banana skin but Sudbury put on a stellar performance and avoided a slip-up to gain their 10th straight league win.

It was not a good start to the day when captain Tom Summers pulled out with a knee injury but the hosts know they can cope with any problems that may beset them, injuries, heavy ground, big packs and late call-offs.

As usual the Beccles ground was heavy but the conditions were perfect.

Sudbury kicked off and put pressure on the home side immediately. However, from a scrum in their own half, Beccles worked their way back into the Sudbury half and were awarded a penalty for offside which they opted to kick.

Jaryd Bennet was successful with the kick to give a three-point lead after five minutes.

Bennet increased the lead with two more kicks after just 15 minutes played.

Sudbury were not fazed by the situation and worked hard to stay in the game, eventually being rewarded with a kickable penalty, Chris Lewis, playing his first league game, stepped up to take on the kicking duties, and converted his first. He went on to convert five of his six kicks in the match, a great performance for a very young player. Beccles were now making mistakes and Sudbury were able to bring the score level by half time with penalties. Neither side had created any decisive breaks in the oppositions defence to score tries.

Sudbury stuck to their game plan and as usual, upped the work rate in the second half. Beccles were feeling the pressure and took to wheeling the scrum on the Sudbury put-in, but miraculously kept it straight when it was their scrum.

Sudbury eventually broke the deadlock when, from a penalty lineout, the forwards drove the maul over the line for captain, Justin Burton to claim the try after 10 minutes of play.

Beccles chose to kick when they were awarded a penalty on the Sudbury 10-metre line but this was soon cancelled out by a kick from Lewis when Beccles were pinged for hands in the ruck.

On the half hour Sudbury put together their best move of the match, Toby White made ground out of the Sudbury half and Fraser Beckett was quick to distribute the ball out to the wing from the ruck.

Matt Johnston spotted the gap and sprinted down the wing and run round behind the posts to give an easy conversion.

The last 10 minutes were played out without further score but Sudbury were aware of the significance of this win and did not let their concentration levels drop until the final whistle.